Tried & Tested November 2017

This month, our testers got to work in the kitchen testing soup-makers, and gave their tastebuds a work-out going through a glut of gluten-free products. Male testers also got a look in when we put grooming products under the microscope just in time for Christmas!

Soup makers

This season, the latest kitchen gadget trend is the all-in-one soup maker. We rigorously testing the current crop of soup-makers here, to see if they deserve their space on your work surface or in the back of your kitchen cupboard. We used the same ingredients and recipe for each soup, using carrot and coriander for the smooth one and pea and ham for the chunky and we used a standard recipe to serve four.

Male grooming products

As we get older, keeping facial hair in check doesn’t have to be a bind. The latest gadgets to keep beards, sideburns, eyebrows, nose and ear hair looking neat and tidy claim to make this aspect of grooming as simple as possible. We find out whether the claims stand up to daily scrutiny here.

Gluten-free bread & biscuits

Gluten-free products used to bear little relation to their wheat-based cousins but with a growing demand, most of the main suppliers have invested heavily in finding new ways to replace gluten. Wheat flour can be replaced with a variety of alternatives including rice, potato or tapioca flour. Our testers tried a variety of breads and biscuits to see if they’d pass the taste test here.